CBC.ca , Canada
March 14 2009

Personal racial slur shocks head of Calgary Multicultural Centre

Last Updated: Friday, March 13, 2009 | 6:24 PM MT
By Andree Lau CBC News

Anoush Newman, executive director of the Calgary Multicultural Centre,
believes this message scrawled on her office window was directed at
her. (Sinela Jorkova)

The executive director of the Calgary Multicultural Centre says she’s
taking precautions after a slur was written across her office window
in red lipstick.

Anoush Newman was shocked to discover the words "Assasian Pig" on her
window on Wednesday afternoon.

Newman, who is half Assyrian and half Armenian, said the message may
not mean much to anyone else, but she believes it’s directed at her
because of her active role in the Calgary Armenian community.

"There are ¦ four panels of windows but this panel belongs to my
office, so it’s directed at me," she told CBC News on Friday.

Newman, who ran unsuccessfully in Calgary-Nose Hill for the Liberal
Party in the 2008 federal election, said she always wears red lipstick
in biography photos and media interviews.

"That’s what scares me the most. It’s personal ‘ the red lipstick and
the Armenian Assyrian slur."

Armenians preparing for April 24 memorial Newman believes the message
on the window is someone’s attempt to use intimidation to deter her
from continuing in her work with the Armenian-Canadian Cultural
Association and its upcoming April 24 memorial in Calgary.

An estimated 1.5 million Armenians died in eastern Turkey during and
after the First World War. Armenians say their people were
systematically killed in a bid to extinguish the population. The
Canadian government passed a resolution in April 2004 that denounced
the Turks for committing genocide against Armenians in 1915.

Anoush Newman believes the message on her window was an attempt to
intimidate her. Turkey denies the genocide charge and insists the
death toll has been inflated. It argues the Armenian deaths were the
result of an uprising of Armenian militants.

Communities around the world, including Calgary, hold memorials every
year to honour those who died and to push for formal worldwide
recognition of the Armenian genocide.

"We should be allowed to mourn our dead without being threatened,"
said Newman.

She called the Calgary police to report the slur but she said they’re
treating it as a mischief or a prank. Officers said the investigation
is unlikely to go anywhere because there are no witnesses or
surveillance footage, according to Newman.

"I want the community to know that there are still ignorant and
cowardly people," she said, explaining why she’s publicizing the
experience.

story/2009/03/13/cgy-anoush-armenian-slur.html